Six Easters ago, the most influential Christian of the past century faltered when trying to address a euphoric crowd in St. Peter’s Square. Pope John Paul II died a few days later, ending the second longest papacy since the days of Peter.

Now his successor is poised, one week from today, to declare John Paul “blessed” — the last step before possibly canonizing him as a saint. And perhaps inevitably, some critics are suggesting “the Vatican should first answer lingering concerns about the flaws of his papacy,” according to The Associated Press.

Just as no good deed goes unpunished, no good life goes unchallenged.

A young man comes of age in a country occupied by the exterminating jackals of Adolf Hitler, joins a movement of cultural resistance and eventually finds himself on the run. He survives, but then must endure decades of communist oppression — and yet does so without groveling or compromising his faith or principles.

He is elected pope, in an improbable break with tradition, and quickly transforms that office into a powerful instrument promoting freedom and human dignity around the globe while revitalizing the church and attempting to heal rifts with other groups, apologizing repeatedly for the church’s historical failings.

And critics demand the Vatican answer lingering questions about him?

I recently asked Jim Nicholson, a former U.S. ambassador to the Vatican who will attend the beatification ceremonies, to recount his memories of John Paul II. Nicholson, who lived in Colorado for many years, presented his credentials to the pope just two days after the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.

“He asked if I would join him in a prayer for the victims,” Nicholson told me, after which the pope turned and declared, “We have to do something about these people who kill in the name of God.”

Not that the pope was prepared to endorse every U.S. reaction to 9/11. Nicholson recalls sitting in a room at the Vatican with other diplomats in January 2003, listening to the pope give a speech “with great energy despite his advanced Parkinson’s,” and suddenly hearing him declare, “No to war!”

All eyes turned to Nicholson, since the invasion of Iraq appeared imminent. “It became a big diplomatic challenge for me,” Nicholson acknowledges, although the pope continued to work closely with the U.S. on such issues as assisting AIDS victims in Africa and trumpeting religious freedom.

The world may eventually forget some of John Paul’s finer qualities, such as his unflinching courage in the face of terrible disease. But it will long remember his electrifying role in igniting the peaceful uprising that eventually dismantled the Soviet bloc. When he returned to his native country in 1979, “It was as though a magician from a distant land had alighted in Poland and broken the evil spell that held its people in thrall,” writes Joseph Shattan in “Architects of Victory: Six Heroes of the Cold War.”

He exhorted immense, ecstatic crowds to “never despair” and “to call good and evil by name.” He spoke of “inalienable rights” and “self-determination.” Christians forgive, he said, but “to forgive does not mean to resign from truth and justice.”

When Solidarity was born in 1980 and workers seized the shipyard in Gdansk, they adorned its buildings and gates with images of the cross, the Virgin Mary — and the pope.

Quarrel if you like about whether “blessed” belongs with his name, but “great” is indisputable.

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